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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The 2012/13 season Opera Annex production of James
MacMillan’s Clemency took place at
the Artists for Humanity (AFH)
Epicenter in February.For twenty years,
AFH has been empowering and employing Boston teens in a uniquely intensive
program of arts, creativity and enterprise. AFH partners youth in small groups
with professional artists/designers to design, create, market and sell art
products.

In preparation for the production, Clemency scenic designer, Julia Noulin-Mérat, worked with AFH youth
artists in the 3-D design studio in a series of workshops during which
participants read the libretto of the opera, completed research and design
sketches, built scale set-models of their own design, and presented their work
to Julia and the Clemency Stage
Director, Andrew Eggart before seeing BLO’s own design for the opera.AFH youth artists also attended special
events with the composer and librettist, visited the A.R.T. Scene Shop to
observe the set build, and attended the Final Dress Rehearsal and performances
of Clemency.Recently, Julia reflected back on her
experience leading the project at AFH.

BLO: Normally,
working as a scenic designer and artist, what do you find intriguing or
inspiring about working with teens?

Julia: I think they come into it with no preconceptions, and
with a very open mind—an uncensored mind.And their curiosity is different.

How is it different?

What they latch onto.Sometimes it’s very impulsive, and sometimes it has to do with what is relevant
to them – having gone through [an experience] or something they’ve heard about
and they want to explore that more.The
typical approach is that you start thinking dramaturgically about the context
of the story.

Describe the kind of
energy that young, developing artists bring to this kind of project?How do you respond to it as an artist
yourself, and as someone being given a mentorship role to young people?

My answer to that question would have been completely
different ten years ago, in the sense that social media has completely changed
human interactions.[Teens] are growing
up in a world where they’re constantly attached to their phones.So, to ask them to focus on something is
completely different.You really have to
engage with them.

Does that make your
job harder?

Not harder, but you have to constantly ask them questions,
and be proactive.When I was doing
things like this ten years ago we had more time to process things.Now, you have to be ready to constantly draw
things out of the students.

Why is it important
to expose young people to scenic design and technical theatre?

It gives them a better comprehension of what happens behind
the scenes.And I think it really covers
the basics of multiple subjects.You
start with the text—basic English and literature skills.Then there’s the mathematical aspect of how you
are going to fit everything [in the scenic design] onstage, basic
problem-solving.Then there’s the art
history and appreciation – depending on the approach you take.It’s really exciting for young people to
know that there are jobs out there that do require knowledge in a little bit of
everything, and that change every day.I
remember myself, I had no idea this job existed.[Laughs.]It’s good to know that there are other kinds of artists.Usually, people hear “artist” and they think you’re
a painter or a sculptor.But art can be
so many different things.

Did you have any
experiences as a teen that inspired you to get involved in set design?

It’s actually kind of funny—I was in pre-Med [laughs] and
one of my friends said, “Julia, you’re seeing plays two to three times per
week.Don’t you think there’s something
to that?”And I was like, “Oh, no, no,
this is just a fun little hobby.” But I
started interning [with a set designer], and I just fell in love with it.And I sat my parents down and said I thought
I would try set design.And they were
very supportive, luckily.

That’s great you had
such supportive parents.

My mom, when I was a kid, did something very smart.She took me to see Bluebeard’s Castle, the play, and then I saw Bluebeard’s Castle, the opera.It was cool to see the different cross-cultural aspects between the
mediums.

What was your
favorite experience from working with the young artists at AFH?

The fact that they’re already coming from an environment in
which they’re really excited about the arts, and they’re already pre-disposed
and open-minded to experience something new.And at AFH they’re so used to doing all these
art installations for other clients, so they’re coming in with all these tools
already, which is great!

Any final thoughts
about the program at AFH?

I think the exciting thing about this project was that we
embraced their space. Instead of creating
a theatre inside their space, it was more of an art installation than a set—a different
interpretation of design.And they got
to see the whole puzzle of singers rehearsing, the acoustic challenges.It’s really cool for them.It would be one thing to go talk to them and
then show up at the Shubert, which is cool too, but at AFH they could literally
peek downstairs and see the process.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

This
Friday, Boston Lyric Opera hosts its second Music!
Words! Opera! Festival of Classroom Operas at Wheelock Family Theatre. In
this culminating, celebratory event, classrooms join theatre
workshops, share their opera knowledge, and demonstrate selections from their original
classroom operas.

So
what is Music! Words! Opera! exactly?
This interactive, multi-disciplinary curriculum from OPERA America is currently
BLO’s principal youth program. It is designed by a team of opera professionals,
composers, curriculum specialists and classroom teachers to bring opera right into
school classrooms.

The curriculum has two components: first, students are
introduced to the world of opera, learning its language, history and structure
while studying opera and music-theater masterpieces. For the second half of the
curriculum, students work with their teachers and BLO teaching artists to
create a libretto and music to produce and perform their very own opera. M!W!O! reflects the highly
interdisciplinary nature of opera as it uses the art form to aid students and
teachers in their explorations of history, language, literature and music. Furthermore,
with the Create Your Own component, M!W!O! also encourages students to find
new creative means of self-expression.

During
the summer, BLO offers a free one-week-long Teacher Training Workshop (PDP’s
available) to any educator who is interested in bringing the arts into their
classrooms. The workshop is led by skilled facilitators from OPERA America who
provide all the tools and resources educators need, not only to teach students
about opera, but also to guide them through the creative process of writing an original
music-theater work. While learning invaluable classroom arts education skills
and earning professional development points, teachers also create and perform
their own original opera at the end of the summer workshop.

Classrooms
participating in M!W!O! also receive
many other opera enrichment opportunities with BLO. This past year, participating
classrooms were invited to visit a rehearsal of BLO productions of Madama Butterfly and The Flying Dutchman. Nearly 250 students
came to the Shubert Theatre and experienced a full-length professional
opera production.

In the
spring, BLO also arranges Classroom Visits by teaching artists for participating
classrooms. During these visits, a BLO singer and pianist demonstrate live
opera performances but also talk about their personal experience, sharing the
details of life as a performer of opera. Students also have the opportunity to
share their works-in-progress and receive professional feedback as they prepare
to perform their own original works at the M!W!O!
Festival in May.

As BLO wraps
up the year with the M!W!O! Festival
as its grand finale, it is also preparing to greet new teachers and
participants for the 2013/14 season. Registration for the free summer workshop is
now open! (Click HERE to register) You can also watch and listen for
more about this exciting opportunity by viewing these videos: Introduction to M!W!O!and Teacher's Workshop Performance.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Teaching Artists are working artists who engage learners of
all agesby teaching their craft.In the 2012/13 season, Boston Lyric
Operahas proudly worked with a number
of talented Teaching Artists (some of whom appear regularly onstage with us!) who bring opera into the
community—particularly with children—to increase exposure and practice of the
art form.

These teaching artists are an integral part of most of our
community engagement events: workshops
at the Boston Public Library, the
annual Open House,
workshops
with Wheelock Family Theatre,
and Music!
Words! Opera! Classroom visits. Because of the collaboration with teaching
artists, audiences have opportunities to learn and ask questions about opera
with real, working opera performers.

Meet BLO's Teaching Artists:

"My favorite moment of the season was

coaching little
kids at the West Roxbury

library for The Magic Flute tableaux. They were

so
uninhibited and creative—it was a joy to watch!”

Heather Gallagher joined
BLO at Boston Public Library workshops and this year’s Wheelock Family Theatre
Workshop at the Open House. She is a
recipient of an Encouragement Award from the Licia-Albanese Puccini Foundation
(2011), and the 2nd Place Award for Metro West Opera's 2011 Opera Competition. This
year Heather was a member of the chorus in BLO’s widely acclaimed productions of Madama Butterfly and The Flying Dutchman. This month she
makes her debut in the title role of Bizet's Carmen with Metrowest Opera. She will return to BLO in the 2013/14 season as a Resident Teaching Artist.To learn more about Heather’s work, visit www.heatheragallagher.com.

"My favorite thing about working as a teaching

artist is seeing the brilliant smiles on children and

adults of all ages as they sing and as theater

is brought to life in front of them. BLO bridges the

gap between the performer and the audience

through community work."

In addition to singing in the
chorus for The Flying Dutchman this
season, Vanessa Schukis provided the
vocal demonstrations at this year’s Open House and taught Boston Public
Library workshops. Ms. Schukis has a multi-faceted career as a character mezzo,
actress, stage director, choreographer, vocal coach, educator, and author of two children’s
books.She has sung
a wide variety of operatic, oratorio and Broadway repertoire to great critical
acclaim.In addition to being a
performer, Vanessa is an award-winning teacher with over thirty years
experience in performing arts education focusing on students with learning
disabilities and special needs.Currently Vanessa teaches music through the outreach program of The
Community Music Center of Boston.For more information about Ms. Schukis, visit www.vanessaschukis.com.

.

"My favorite thing about working as a teaching artist

with BLO this season was watching the students grow.

In just two days, a bunch of nervous, excited students

learned and mastered challenging music, took risks,

and became accomplished performers in their own right.

The look on their faces, with the full knowledge of

what they had achieved, was an absolute thrill."

Brendan Buckley co-taught the 2-Day Opera
and Dramatic Performance Workshop for teens with Wheelock Family Theatre this
past fall. He is a MA native and is quickly gaining a reputation as a skilled and
sought-after performer, recently performing as Howard Boucher in Boston Opera
Collaborative’s New England premiere of Dead
Man Walking.He is also a
passionate educator, with ten years of experience teaching both adults and
children.For
more information about Mr. Buckley, visit www.brendanpbuckley.com.

"Teaching for the BLO/WFT Opera Program is a wonderful

opportunity to work with teens who are passionate about

opera, classical music, and musical theatre. In the Gilbert

and Sullivan workshop they truly embraced the extremes

of character and comedy to be found in operettas."

Grace Napier, an Equity actor, singer, dancer
and graduate of MIT, teaches for BLO through Wheelock Family Theatre. She
has enjoyed a successful professional acting career throughout the United States and Canada.Career highlights include touring with Rudolf
Nureyev in The King and I, starring opposite Stacy Keach in A Christmas Carol, and performing classic roles like Cinderella, Julie Jordan, and Yum Yum. Most
recently, she directed WFT's acclaimed Story Troupers and an IRNE
award-winning

main stage production of Seussical.

.

It is the dedicated and generous work of Teaching Artists, often
taking place between auditions, rehearsals, performances, running private music
studios, day-jobs, and family-life that make BLO youth education programs a
success. We hope you’ll join us at a community engagement event next season, where you
might just meet a member of this talented team!

Throughout the 2012/13 Season, BLO youth education programs have impacted nearly 1,000 students in after-school programs, opera and dramatic workshops, free community events, and in-school outreach. Help BLO continue to share opera with young learners in our community and donate today.